23 August 2007

Obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses or Gatesesthe latest sub-urban competitive consumption race is to shootchemical laced water at all hard surfaces for nearly a day. This process is called 'cleaning' in the driest inhabited continent. Like dominoes, each house in turn gets in the mobile 'pressure cleaners' to shoot the water/chemical cocktail (bleaches, alkali/degreasers, acids, detergents and other solvents, pdf ) at all hard external surfaces of the McMansion and the surrounding paved surfaces. The pumps provide noise and air pollution for many hours, the run off water (with chemicals) is socialised generously most of the time. Mobile dog washers follow and add their bit.

In a country 'as dry as a bone', this is a convenient way to buy oneself out of 'water restrictions', a perfectly legal way of privatising water in the small arena. Leave the liabilities to future generations and other species.Update: forgot the car wash industry as a means to bypass 'restrictions'